The Bench
by cookie-moi
Summary: After the events in "Customer Loyalty" Pam and Nellie have a moment on a bench.


**Title: The Bench**

**Rating:** PGSpoilers: For Dwight Christmas and Customer Loyalty  
**Disclaimer:** The Office, Pam and Nellie do not belong to me. Although I'd so much prefer it to be otherwise in the last case. ;)  
**Other:** I haven't written anything in over a year. No matter how much I tried I couldn't get the words down. But after having to wirte so much for university the last month... It's probably no good. But well... Your decision.^^

~~o~~

Pam sat outside the dark office building on an old bench, looking into the distance without really seeing it, while the grey sunlight was slowly dimming, telling the world that the night was not far away. Everybody had already gone and Pam should be heading to her mother's to get the children. But her horrible fight with Jim over the phone was still lingering heavily on her mind. So every time she tried to move she just felt like curling up instead.

The uncomfortable train of thought got broken when someone sat down next to her. Jacket tightly closed and red mane aflame Nellie pushed her hands deep into her pockets. For a moment they sat in silence. Both hanging on to their thoughts, wondering where the day had gone wrong, while knowing exactly that it hadn't been today but long before that everything went awry.

The first street lamps turned on, much too early to be really needed. Although Pam didn't really look at Nellie and was concentrating more on her own problems than on the world around her, she still felt the tension emanating from the Britsh woman right next to her. But she kept silent.

Nellie flipped her hair behind her shoulder but never turned to Pam. She didn't need to.

"What happened?"

Pam shifted and clutched her fingers tightly together, while her eyes burned with unshed tears. "Fought with Jim".

"Damn.", Nellie's lovely british accent coloured the word and soothed Pam's mind for a moment.

"Yeah."

Silence fell again between them and the fading daylight. Somewhere a bird fluttered in a tree and then flew away. But Pam did not see it. Instead she stared right through everything into nothing.

Nellie shifted beside her, rolling her shoulders as if trying to shake something away.

Pam sighed. "And you?"

The older woman anxiously bit the side of her lower lip. "Kissed Toby."

All noise left the parking lot as Pam's mind slowly took the two simple words and provided her not only with the meaning but also with a fitting image. And then searched for something suitable to say.

"Damn.", Pam's fitting comment made Nellie smile despite the worry and exasperation she was feeling.

"Yeah."

The two of them continued sitting one the slightly creaky bench while more street lamps came to live outside the parking lot. Darkness slowly crept its way across the pavent and into their corner. It was so quite there. Every so often a car rolled by on the street. Somewhere far away an ambulance made its way but on their bench it was silent. Only the occasional rustle of clothing or a sigh broke it.

Nellie pushed her left hand deeper into her pocket and fingered her collar with the other one, as if trying to hide what lay beneath it, contemplating how she had managed to again make a mess without thinking about it back then. Pam sat beside her and wondered where she had gone wrong in her actions, still hearing Jim's angry voice in her head and feeling her phone against her ear, while balling her hand to fists on her knees.

A sigh broke the painter out of her revery and back into the little world on the old bench.

Nellie shifted and stared at the car on the other side of the parking lot.

"Fancy a drink?"

Pam's brows knit together as she thought about the idea. Just two weeks before she had gone out for drinks with Meredith. Dumping her kids on her parents for the evening while she talked to the single mother about how it hard it was without Jim here in Scranton.

And now they had argued.

Pam sighed deeply and sat back against the withered wood of the bench. She just wanted to go home and curl up.

"Sure."

There was still time to curl up later in night.

The women stood up from the bench, as darkness had finally fallen on them. The street lamps barely managed to light up the beginning of the parking lot, as Nellie walked towards her car. Pam fished for her mobile in her handbag while following the redhead, just wanting to inform her mother to not wait up.

It was going to be a long night.

~~o~~

_I hope you liked it. If not, please still leave a review. And have a cookie. ;)_


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